SGPC extends aid to Sikhs in Shillong

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has extended aid to Sikhs living in Shillong who were subjected to harassment by a section of local community there.

Several indigenous Khasi civil society groups were pressuring the Meghalaya Government to relocate Sikh residents living in Thom Metor since British times, claiming most of them as “illegal settlers”. Similarly, Punjabi Colony, where around 300 Dalit Sikhs were living, was also attacked by a mob in May.

SGPC secretary Diljit Singh said a delegation was sent to assess the ground situation at Shillong and on the basis of the report, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal had announced Rs 10 lakh for Gurdwara Bara Bazaar, Rs 2 lakh each to victims Saroop Singh and Ansh Shergill, whose houses were torched, and Rs 50,000 to Bitu Singh. Besides, Rs 21,000 each has been given to five girls as honorarium for showing guts to oppose the mob.